VIRGINIA — It's been 33 days since a Navy official threatened to shoot three young men who were on the street in front of his house in Burke.
And still no charges.
The three young men had just left a barbecue in the neighborhood. They say they were on the sidewalk right in front Karnig O'Hannessian's house when he came out angry and calling them names. Then, he went inside and came back out with a gun.
"Get in the Car!" OHannessian screams as he points his loaded gun at Merrill Shoup, 24. O'Hannesian, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for the Environment, was put on paid administrative leave after superiors saw the story on WUSA9, according a Navy spokesman.
"He loaded it and cocked it. And pointed at my head...I was telling him, please put down the weapon," said Shoup.
Shoup and two friends were on a public street in front of O'Hannissian's house on June 11th at around 8 p.m.
"There are gun owners and there are irresponsible gun owners...I'm not looking for revenge, just looking for peace of mind. I don't want to see this happen to someone else," Shoup said.
Shoup went to Fairfax County police two days after the incident and filed a complaint. So did one of the other men. O'Hannessian was arrested, and then de-arrested. Fairfax County police say they're still investigating.
But Shoup says police have not followed up nor made any attempt to contact him.
O'Hannessian accused the men of being drunk and said that gave him justification to shoot them. Shoup says he was not drunk, but sometimes people think he is because of his speech impediment.
"It definitely plays a part in the fact that he called me names. And the fact that I go to police and they don't take me seriously," said Shoup.
Police also have not interviewed Eric Stanton-Hoyle, one of the two other men with Shoup. WUSA9 interviewed Stanton-Hoyle last week after he came back from a mission trip to Haiti. His mother is a pastor. She's concerned there have been no charges filed, and so is his dad.
"I'm just amazed that a person can brandish a gun toward three people and have there not at least be an investigation on the part of the police with Eric," said Dale Stanton-Hoyle.
Stanton-Hoyle and Shoup both gave a WUSA9 reporter permission to give investigators their contact information, which has happened.
A conviction for brandishing a firearm carries a maximum one year sentence. If he were to be charged and convicted on three counts, for the three victims, he could face a maximum three years behind bars.
